Biodiversity

Shri Rajiv Gandhi viewed planet protection as a coordinated and cooperative activity among all the inhabitants of the earth. Because of inter-linkages among climate, radiation, regulation, pollution, biodiversity and bilogical productivity. he proposed in 1988, a Planet Protection fund to deal with all issues connected with our common present and future in an integrated and holistic manner. Since 1988 when Rajiv Gandhi proposed an integrated plan and fund for planet protection, the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, resulted in the development of Global Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate and Agenda 21 designed to promote harmony between humankind and nature and thereby environmentally sustainable development.

Another important is the conclusion last year of the protracted Uruguay Round negotiations on GATT and the establishment of the World Trade Organisation. For the first time, 'Agriculture' has been brought under the purview of international trade agreement, along with intellectual property rights. Biotechnological inventions can now be patented. The Agreement excludes "plants and animals" as such from patentability, but makes it obligatory to provide patents for "micro-organisations" and "micro-biological" processes.